Bell Earnings jump: Bell Atlantic, SBC, Ameritech

CBS.MarketWatch.com

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Bell Atlantic said Wednesday its second- quarter earnings rose 11 percent as it joined other phone companies benefiting from demand for high-speed data and wireless services.

Bell Atlantic said those segments drove profits to $1.2 billion, or 75 cents a share, from $1.1 billion, or 68 cents, a year earlier. Results were in line with the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. Sales rose 4.6 percent to $8.29 billion from $7.93 billion. See press release.

Shares of Bell Atlantic
BEL, +0.08%
rose 5/16 to 65 1/2. The carrier is in the midst of acquiring GTE Corp.
GTE, +1.53%
another major local phone company.

Performing just as well were Ameritech and SBC Communications, which reported their results on Tuesday.

SBC, which is in the process of acquiring Chicago-based Ameritech, earned $1.2 billion, or 59 cents a share, up from $1 billion, or 51 cents, a year earlier. The company was expected to earn 58 cents, according to theconsensus estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. SBC's
SBC, +0.00%
revenue rose 5.2 percent to $7.4 billion from $7 billion. See press release.

For Ameritech
AIT, +0.43%
profits before special items advanced 21 percent to $840 million, or 76 cents a share, from $695 million, or 63 cents, a year ago. That beat the the 72-cent consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp.

Revenue climbed 12 percent to a record $4.80 billion from $4.29 billion. See press release. Demand for data services, whose revenue growth tallied 72 percent, accounted for more than half of all Ameritech's quarterly in increase in sales. And earnings from international operations nearly doubled, accounting for 10-percent-plus of the profit growth.

Including special items, Ameritech reported net income of $819 million, or 74 cents a share, in the latest quarter, compared to net of $1.71 billion, or $1.54, a year ago.

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